Aviva and Legal and General are planning to roll out a mid-life MOT to workplace pension clients after piloting the service on a group of employees earlier this year.
Aviva, Legal and General and The Pension Advisory Service (TPAS) carried out separate mid-life MOT pilots, with the first pilot beginning at the start of this year.
Both Aviva and L&G piloted the MOT among a small proportion of their members of staff aged 45 to 50.
TPAS targeted self-employed workers aged 35 to 50 for its pilot which involved one-to-one telephone conversations.
Aviva said it will be in a position to consider rolling out its MOT to workplace pensions customers by next year.
Alistair McQueen, head of savings and retirement at Aviva, said: "We have learnt from the pilot that people’s awareness of risk increased after they carried out their mid-life MOT.
"There was a huge demand for the service among our staff and out of a random selection of 100 of our employees, 94 decided to use the service. We will be publishing a joint report towards the end of September which we will be presenting to the pensions minister so that we can figure out how the service can be distributed.
"We will be in a position to consider rolling out the service to customers in 2019. We will consider how the product can be offered, but will look closely at providing the service as part of workplace pensions."
Legal and General said it will be looking to offer the product as early as next year following a second pilot due to begin at the end of this year.
Emma Douglas, head of defined contribution (DC) solutions at L&G said: "We are looking towards next year for the introduction of our mid-life MOT service, but it depends on the appetite from employers.
"It will most likely run alongside workplace pensions and will allow us to broaden our offering."
The pilots were part of an initiative lead by TPAS alongside the Centre for Ageing Better to explore how the service can help people asses their retirement options, health and savings before they reach retirement age.
Commenting on the pilots during Age UK’s later life conference last week (5 September 2018) Melinda Riley, head of policy and technical at TPAS, said: "We have been working closely with L&G and Aviva around later life.
"We have been looking at mid-life MOTs as a way of ensuring a stable workforce and what role employers have to play in providing the service. "
Each of the three pilots have been completed and a joint report on the findings of each scheme is set to be published on 24 September 2018 and will be discussed with the pensions minister.
The idea of a midlife MOT was called for by the ABI in a report in April after being proposed by John Cridland in his independent review of the state pension.
Mr Cridland had called for the MOT to help people plan their later lives in addressing their lifestyle, skills, paid and unpaid work, and their retirement income some years before they retire.
Ricky Chan chartered financial planner and director at IFS Wealth and Pensions, said it would be preferable for an independent third party to offer the service, instead of the providers themselves.
He said: "A 'mid-life MOT' is likely a good thing as it would give people the opportunity and the time to put their finances back on track if it’s not heading the right way. The devil is always in the detail of when these MOTs happen, what information is provided and how it’ll be delivered.
"I’d prefer an independent third party to avoid conflicts of interests - rather than the pension provider. But realistically for cost efficiently, it makes sense for the workplace pension providers to facilitate this as they have the scale and resources to."
Mr Chan said the initiative could be good for advisers as an increase in financial awareness and possible signposts to financial advice for more complicated circumstances could lead to more clients in future.
However, he said he was concerned if it meant bringing back the old days of insurance agents selling the pension providers’ products and an increase in vertical integration.
rosie.quigley@ft.com
